September was a pretty good month for fishing in Vancouver. We enjoyed fairly consistent waves of big chinook salmon and over the last week we have seen improved numbers of coho salmon. We have roughly one more month left to target migrating salmon before we shift our focus to winter chinook salmon in late October.

Over the last month we have spent the majority of our time off the Fraser RIver Mouth and near Capilano RIver Mouth. As usual, these fish are coming in waves as they prepare to enter the river. We have had some days where we have hooked over a dozen big fish on a charter and some days where we have to work for a hook up or two. For the most part, most trips did well with some decent fish averaging in the 10 to 20 pound range!

Looking forward to the next month we will focus on two local fisheries. The Capilano Mouth fishery should be productive for chinook salmon in the 10 to 30 pound range until the fall rains slow things down around the 15th of October. There will also be some coho around as well. The Mouth of the Fraser should heat up for coho and chum salmon in October and we should have some good fishing up until the last week of October. Last year we had pretty good action for chum and coho until October 27th or so. A longer 6 or 8 hour charter on the flood tide is a good bet in October. If you can line up a good long flood tide and a calm day in October the Fraser Mouth can be a very good bet.

We have been running a mixture of anchovies and herring while targeting our late run chinook and coho salmon. We have been very successfully running Gibbs Delta Madi, Lemon Lime, Slurpee and Bon Chovy Flashers recently. As we progress into October we will likely start to run a few more Skinny G’s, glow hootchies, and G Force Spoons for returning coho to the Fraser River.

Last year we had our winter chinook salmon start very early and we enjoyed some very active fishing by late October/early Novermber in Howe Sound. With the abundance of bait in local waters, we are optimistic that we will be in for another strong early start. Our winter chinook fishery seems to be getting year by year as local ocean conditions seem to be improving.

Sturgeon fishing has been quite good in the Fraser River and will continue for the next couple months. As more and more salmon pour into the Fraser River fishing sturgeon fishing should continue to be productive for the next couple months!

Right on schedule our first major pulse of chinook salmon arrived in local waters in the middle of August. We have seen some very good waves of chinook salmon in the 10 to 30 pound range roll into local waters over the last couple weeks. These fish are coming in with the tides and some pulses have been more significant than others resulting in the odd slow tide. Overall, fishing has been quite good for some excellent quality chinook salmon. A significant improved from a slower than normal July!!!

We have been having our success all along the Fraser RIver mouth. Depending on the day, tides and weather there have been fish from the Mile Markers all the way down the shelf to Sandheads. Mixed in with the adult chinook have been some pinks, the odd coho and quite a few jack chinook. We are expecting continued pulses of Fraser bound chinook for the the next 4 weeks. The majority of the chinook we are landing are red chinook, but this will change in the next 10 to 15 days as the big white chinook enter local waters. September is typically the month that the biggest chinook of the year are in local waters! We are looking forward to big September bites! In addition to the chinook, we should see a mixed fishery for pinks, hatchery coho and chum in September.

We have been running primarily anchovies while targeting these Fraser bound chinook. Having said that there are days where Skinny Gs and Glow Hootchies have been very productive. With the often silty Fraser River mouth water, we rely on flashers with UV blades as they kick up a lot of light down in the water. Our favourites are the Gibbs Delta Guide Series STS, Lemon LIme, Madi, Bon Chovy, Slurpee, and T 10 flashers. You can’t go wrong with a selection of these flashers in local waters. Our favourite teaser heads have been anything with green, glow and chartreuse. Stop by our charter and tackle shop on Granville Island, we have all the right tackle and bait for local waters.

We made a great addition to our fleet this month!!!! We added “Bob Dolphin” to our charter roster. The boat is a 25 Foot Grady White Dolphin. The boat has one of the best fishing layouts that we have found with lots of deck space. The boat is decked out with all the goodies needed for a first class charter boat! We got a fresh re-power and got taken care by River City Marine with an impressive set of twin 200 Mercury Verados and a 9.9hp Trolling Motor. This boat moves in comfort and style! Looking forward to some fishy seasons to come! Check out the video below!

Sturgeon fishing has also been decent in the Fraser River. Putting your time in has resulted in some great fish being landed. The next few months are typically solid months to target sturgeon in the Fraser.

Give us a call or an email if you would like to get out on the water, September is typically provides good weather and good salmon opportunity in local waters!!

The last couple weeks have provided us with some good chinook salmon fishing on our full day trips to the Gulf Island’s. Our local fishing has been very hit or miss. We should be seeing good numbers of pink salmon in Vancouver Harbour right now, but it has been very slow. Local fishing should pick up as we should see a push of coho soon and Fraser Chinook will start to build in numbers in coming weeks.

When weather has allowed, we have been making the run across the Strait to fish the east side of Gabriola Island. Fishing has been consistent on most days with some nice fish up to 25 pounds. The fish are deep and dragging bottom in 100 to 220 feet seems to be the most productive. Last year, we enjoyed good chinook fishing in the Gulf Island’s well into August.

Local fishing has been pretty tough overall. We have seen a few ok days off the West Vancouver shoreline and off the Bell Boy, but we have not found much consistency. There is a few pinks around, the odd coho, and increasing numbers of chinooks. It seems as though most of our half day trips are now getting a shot or two at mature chinooks each trip. We are excepting chinook numbers to start to increase in coming weeks as the Fraser River Summer Chinook run starts to enter local waters in August. Peak time for summer red chinook in Vancouver is from August 12th or so into early September. As the red chinook numbers slow in early September, the big white chinook are there to replace them. Even though things are unseasonably slow now in local waters, we are anticipating a good August chinook fishery.

We have been running mostly hootchies and spoons over on the Gulf Island side for chinook. Our go to set ups over on the Gulf Islands have been glow Yamashita Hootchies (white glow and spacklebacks in blue, green and chartreuse) and Guide Series Gibbs Delta Flashers (Lemon lime, STS, Bon Chovy, Madi) Skinny G’s in Blue/Chrome and the Outfitter have also been effective. On the Vancouver Side we have been running primarily anchovies and the odd glow hootchie thrown in the mix. Our charter shop has all the right gear for local waters, stop by if you are on Granville Island.

Sturgeon fishing has been pretty good on the Fraser RIver. Now that the river has dropped the fishing has been more consistent with some great fish up to 8 feet being hooked up. The next few months presents very good opportunity for sturgeon.

August is just around the corner and we are looking forward to the Fraser River Chinook run that will be entering local waters in coming weeks!

Over the last week, our best fishing has been on the far side of Georgia Strait. We have had some productive full day charters to the eastern shoreline of Gabriola Island when the winds have cooperated. Locally, the fishing has been scratchy with the odd legal and a few undersized fish being hooked on our half day trips. This should change very soon though as our West Vancouver fishery for coho, pink and chinook salmon will perk up any day and provide good opportunity on our half day trips.

Our best success on our full day trips to the Gulf Island’s have been fishing close to the bottom in 140 to 200 feet of water. We have been focusing our efforts near the entrance to Silva Bay and up the Bluffs towards Entrance Island. The fish seem to be keying in on small herring so we have been running hootchies, smaller G Force and Silver Horde spoons and Skinny G’s. The Gulf Island’s will continue to produce chinook depending on the day for the next couple months. Gulf Island trips require a 10 hour charter and good weather.

In local Vancouver waters, there is the odd fish coming out of Vancouver Harbour, Cowan Point, Cape Roger Curtis and Hole in the Wall. Most days you really have to work for them, but there has been some nice fish around.

As we progress into this next week, we anticipate some better numbers of coho to be caught off the West Vancouver Shoreline. We should also start to see some early pink salmon start to show, likely in second of week July. These pink salmon that will show along the West Vancouver shoreline in July and August are bound for the Indian, Seymour, Capilano and Squamish Rivers. The Fraser River pinks return later and will be in local waters in late August and September. Chinook salmon numbers will also start to increase along the West Vancouver shoreline in July. It is quite common to hook chinook in the 15 to 30 pound range while targeting coho and pink salmon in Vancouver Harbour. We find running a mixture of anchovies, spoons and hootchies is an effective way to target all 3 species of salmon along the West Vancouver shoreline. A white yamashita hootchie can be deadly behind a Guide Series Flasher with a UV Blade. (Bon Chovy, STS, Madi, Slurpee)

Check out “Pinky and the Whale” ! A short film by www.coribiefieldwalker.com where we spent the day casting Gibbs Delta Minnows and Blizzards for pink salmon in early August 2015!

The Fraser River is now starting to recede and we have had a couple successful sturgeon fishing trips this week. As the river continues to drop, fishing should only get better!

After a good week of local and Gulf Fishing in the first part of June, things have tapered off over the last week. We are still hooking some nice chinook and even some early hatchery coho, but we have had to work for them this week. Things should hopefully rebound this week we some very good tides coming up and some nice calm weather forecasted.

In local waters, we have continued to focus most of our effort in the deep water from Cowan Point all the way up towards Gibsons. For the most part we have been trolling in the deep water in 200 to 400 feet of water. Looking for tide lines has seemed to help to locate the feeding fish. The fish have been reasonably shallow with 40 to 120 being a pretty good depth range while trolling in offshore waters.

The Gulf Island’s have been slow over the last week. Could be a result of the big tides and the recent full moon. We should see the Gulf Island’s rebound this week with the mellow tides coming up. June is usually a good month to fish for chinook over there. One very encouraging sign is the numbers of early coho being hooked. Everyday is different, but on some days we have hooked up to 10 coho while searching for chinook salmon. Hopefully a sign of things to come!

We have been sticking to spoons and hootchies over the last week. We have found that they have been producing better than anchovies. Some of our productive spoons have been the Gibbs Delta Outfitter and Bon Chovy Skinny G and the Silver Horde Irish Cream, Killy Mcgee, and Herring Aide. The green and chartreuse Yamashita Splatterback hootchies have also been good. If you are looking for the right gear for local waters, stop by our charter/tackle shop on Granville Island.

Sturgeon fishing has been slow on the Fraser River as a result of the high water. We should start to see the waters recede over the next few weeks and fishing will pick up. Sturgeon fishing is a great bet in the summer months.

Give us a call to get on the water! Summer is right around the corner! Tight lines!

We have enjoyed fantastic weather and consistent salmon fishing in local Vancouver waters and the Gulf Island’s over the last couple weeks. The fish have not been huge, but there is healthy numbers of feeding chinook in the 8 to 15 pound range. We are also very excited that the first coho have shown near Bowen , Gabriola and Galiano Island’s! A very encouraging sign for coming months.

In local waters, we have been spending most of our time fishing the deep waters searching for feeding chinook. Depending on the day, we have had good success off the QA Marker, the Hump, Cape Roger Curtis, Hole in the Wall and Cowan Point. The local chinook are chasing the schools of anchovy that seem to be one of their main food sources in the spring now. It is very interesting how the emergence of the anchovy schools has now changed our spring chinook fishery…..for the better!! Because of the abundance of anchovy, especially near Bowen Island, we have had really good success on Gibbs Delta Skinny G spoons. The normal productive patterns like the Outfitter, Bon Chovy and Irish cream seem to be working well as usual. Silver Horde Irish Cream, Killy Mcgee and Herring Aide Spoons also seems to be working very well. We have been running a bit of bait, but spoons have been just as good if not better.

The fishing in the Gulf Island’s has also been very good. Depending on the day anywhere from Active Pass up to Nanaimo has seen good numbers of chinook and increasing numbers of early coho salmon. The fish have been tight to structure and also in the deep water. Spoons, bait and hootchies have all been working. Some days they are as shallow as 50 feet down and other days we have had success dragging bottom in 150 to 200 feet.

Our local guides association, “The Vancouver Sport Fishing Guides”, with support from the Capilano Hatchery, has recently completed another successful chinook net pen project in Vancouver. Spearheaded by Phil Grassi, for the 10th year in a row, 100,000 chinook smolts have been released into the waters near Point Atkinson. The chinook smolts are transferred from the Capilano Hatchery to a net pen at the West Vancouver DFO labs. For a couple weeks our group of volunteers feed the young chinook daily to give them a bit of a jump start in life. Check out this video we put together with www.corbiefieldwalker.com, it shows the net pen in action and explains things in a little more detail.

Sturgeon fishing has been pretty tough on the Fraser River due to the high water. As we get into July, the water levels will improve and the sturgeon fishing will get better.

If you are looking to get out on the water, it is looking like we should have continued good fishing for chinook salmon. While there is often good opportunity on our 5 hour trips, our longer 8 hour and 10 hour trips are very good bets in June. It allows to run a little further and catch that extra tide change. On 10 hour trips, we can run over to the Gulf Island’s if the fishing and weather conditions permit. Give us a call or an email to get out on the water!

The last couple weeks have continued to provide some very good fishing over on the eastern shoreline of the Gulf Island’s. The fishing is not as crazy as it was in the last 10 days of April and the first week of May, but there definitely have been some periods of good, often expolosive activity. There have been some good pockets of fish on the Vancouver side as well depending on the day, tides, and weather.

On most of our full day trips, we have been concentrating on the eastern shoreline of Gabriola Island. For the most part, we have been out in the deep water in 300 to 1000 feet water doing long tacks searching for feeding chinook. Most of the chinook salmon have been taken trolling from 90 to 180 feet down depending on the day. As we progress into May, we will likely see more fish start to show a little tighter to structure in 150 to 300 feet.

The Vancouver side has also had some good pockets of fish. Hole in the Wall was quite productive last week, but really slowed over the weekend with only the odd fish landed. Cowan Point up to Roger Curtis in a little tighter has had some nice fish the last few days. The outer reaches of Vancouver Harbour and out off Point Grey have also been good at times over the last few days. The fishing has been better around the tide changes and days with smaller tides.

We have been sticking to spoons and hootchies so far this spring. We are getting the odd fish on anchovies, but Skinny G’s have been out producing bait on the Vancouver Side. The Outfitter, Bon Chovy and the new Nickel and Green Skinny G’s have been our go to lures in Vancouver waters. Over on the Gulf Island side, we have been running a mix of spoons and hootchies. Our favourite spoons have been the Silver Horde Irish Cream and Kitchen Sink, G Force Trailhead and Bon Chovy and the same Skinny G’s as the Vancouver sides. We have been running a lot of hootchies too, especially in the strong currents. Yamashita spacklebacks in green and chartruese and a basic glow have been very effective as usual.

Sturgeon fishing has been ok this week despite the rising levels of the Fraser River. Sturgeon fishing is always a good freshwater option, especially once the river levels subside in a couple months!

We have continued to explore and capture the Salish Sea with our friend and talented film maker Corbie Fieldwalker (www.corbiefieldwalker.com) this spring! We have recently returned from a multi day trip fishing and cruising the offshore waters of Georgia Strait and transiting the protected passages of the Gulf Island’s. We are looking forward to the release of this video next month! Check out our past fishy video projects on our Youtube channel www.youtube.com/user/bonchovy1

If you are looking to get out on the water, we are recommending full day trips right now if you have the time! This gives us the option to run over to the Gulf Island’s if the fishing and weather conditions permit! It is looking like it is going to be a productive spring and early summer season!

Spring is here and our offshore chinook fishery is now in full swing! We have enjoyed some very good fishing over the last few days. We are hoping that things will continue! Areas like the Bell Buoy, Cowan Point, Cape Roger Curtis and the Hump, the Gulf Island’s, and the QA have all seen good periods of activity. This offshore fishery in local waters should continue for the next 5 to 6 weeks. After that we will likely focus most of our efforts over on the Gulf Island side!

Now is the time of year to start we start running a bit more bait and hootchies in addition to our spoons. We usually run 4 rods and mix things up a bit to find the depth the fish are feeding and biting at. Usually the fish will be between 75 to 150 feet, but there are years where we get them as shallow as 40 feet and as deep as 200 feet (especially on the Gulf Island’s side). Good bets for spoons are the G Force No Bananas, Bon Chovy, Trailhead and Outfitter. Skinny G’s will also work in the same patterns. Glow Yamashita hootchies like the Blood and Bones, Chartreuse and Green Spackleback, and the plain glow are good ones as well. The Guide Series Flashers will also be key in the murky water with the UV and Glow really making a difference.

When fishing out on the deep water it is often necessary to cover some area to find the fish and the bait. Once you hit a fish or two, it is often a good idea to keep on working that area to see if you can keep hitting them. Pay attention to the way the currents are going as the fish will often move with the current. Quite often you will get more bites going with the current than against it. Looking for tide lines is also a good idea. The deep sea fishing in Vancouver in the spring can often involve a lot of searching but it can frequently result in some fast and explosive action if things come together!

As we progress into May and June, we will likely see our Gulf Island’s fishery really heat up! In fact, we have already seen some very encouraging fishing over there already. Because of the often excellent fishing over on the Gulf Island’s in May and June, we recommend booking full day charters for the next 2 months as it is possible to make the run across the if weather and fishing conditions permit!

Sturgeon fishing has also been very good on the Fraser River. The cool spring we have had so far has kept the river in excellent shape and the fishing productive. Most of the fish are in the 3 to 6 foot range, but there is some larger ones being caught, and always the chance at a monster!
Sturgeon Fishing Vancouver

Give us a call or send us an email to get out on the water! There will be the odd slow day, but there should be lot’s of good ones based on what we have seen over the last few days!

It definately feels like fall now! Sturgeon fishing has been solid and will contuinue to produce fish for the next 2 months. We are coming towards the end of our fall salmon season and it has not dissappinted. We have had some great days on the water with a few frustrating ones mixed in. We do have some opportunity for coho and chum off of the Fraser mouth for another 2 weeks or so.

Sturgeon Fishing

The Fraser river sturgeon fishery is one of Vancouver’s most consistent fisheries from July-November. We have had a great start but things should really start to pick up now that salmon are in all of the Fraser river tributaries. These fish will be heavily feeding and packing on the pounds for the cold winter ahead. Salmon parts and roe are your best bet for the remainder of the season.

Salmon Fishing

Salmon Fishing is almost at the end of its fall season. We have some opportunity to target coho and chum off of the south arm for another couple of weeks. The coho we have seen this year has been sizably bigger than years past. They are averaging 4-7 pounds with fish up to 15 pounds being caught. We should see a solid late run of coho which could be the biggest of the year.

With the migratory season winding down we are starting to get excited for our winter fishery for chinook that starts to pick up steam in December. We have had a few great years of winter chinook fishing and we are hoping this year wont be any different. With the presencse of the anchovoes in the strait of Georgia and the expected big herring spawn happening in Howe Sound in the winter/spring, things are really shaping up to be another solid year of winter springs. Give us a call or email us to get out for our favorite fisheries of the year.

The weather has been all over the place over the last month. We have seen peak summer conditions followed by more fall like weather. It looks like we have a nice stretch of weather for the next couple of weeks. This bodes well for our sturgeon and salmon fisheries. Sturgeon fishing is starting to heat up and salmon fishing has continued to be impressive for June.

Sturgeon Fishing

With summer here and July around the corner, sturgeon fishing has already started to pick up. Typically summer months on the Fraser River are pretty consistent with good numbers and some quality fish. The average size fish is in the 4-6’ range and on the Fraser, there is always a chance at an 8-10 footer. We are hooking 5-12 fish on our 8 hour days. All of the standard baits work well and the later into the summer we get, the more we use salmon and salmon parts. This is a great time of year to get out and enjoy just how unique of a fishery we have on the Fraser. Give us a call to get you on the water.

Salmon Fishing

Salmon fishing has been solid for the month of June. Typically things become a little more hit or miss on the Vancouver side of the Strait however this year we have seen an abundance of bait which has kept anglers busy. We have been spending most of our time in Howe Sound and locally. We have been running lots of spoons and hootchies behind Gibbs Delta Guide Series Flashers(Bon Chovy, Lemon Lime & STS). Most of these chinooks are in the 8-20 pound range but there has been some fish in the high twenties brought back to the docks. Fishing should continue to stay good locally as long as the bait sticks around. We are about a week away from our Coho Capilano fishery. Give us a shout or come by the shop to get geared up for this unique fishery.